4.3 PTR Coverage Roundup

It's been a busy week on the PTR for myself and Ashelia. Every day, we find dozens of new things to write about, turning our observations into epicly-long posts. Since there are so many new things, I've provided a roundup of our 4.3 PTR coverage so far--with all the information, perhaps you missed reading something the first time around!

In our very first overview to 4.3, we went through the initial 1600 datamined items to make sense of it all. Among other things, we found numerous new mounts and pets, items that hinted at changes to holidays like Helm of the Fire Festival, new profession recipes, and many items related to the revamped Darkmoon Faire. We also listed numerous 3d models of NPCs, models, and weapons--as well as making a video of some of the new mount animations. Finally, we listed some of the radical class changes in 4.3, placing them next to Ghostcrawler's quotes on balance for an explanation.

In this dungeon-themed preview, we've got extensive coverage of End Time, one of the new 5 mans--a video highlighting all of the bosses, numerous screenshots of every encounter, the Dungeon Journal entries, and loot drops. We've also provided modelviewer previews of all the matching gear from 5-mans, as well as screenshots of the Transmogrification and Void Storage UI. Also, we've organized the Dungeon Journal entries for Dragon Soul, Well of Eternity, and Hour of Twilight, even though they're not available on the PTR yet.

In this preview, we organized all the new profession recipes into tables--including all the epic gem cuts--and tried to list their source/cost when applicable. We also found a bunch of fun miscellaneous things--some spell effects were changed for staple abilities, Winter Veil pets now hearth and have new sassy dialogue, sell prices of some epics have been drastically changed. The Worgen mount vendor is up, so Alliance players can finally get their two extra mounts--and most importantly, players can make Stardust, so we've got numerous glittery screenshots of that. It's an image-intensive post, but sometimes a picture really does say a thousand words.

This preview covered specific quests in 4.3--Darkmoon Faire and the new Rogue legendary. The datamined quest chains aren't complete by any means, but they provide an initial glimpse into the atmosphere behind these 4.3 additions. The Faire seems like it will be a quirky and light-hearted zone, while the quest for Fangs of the Father seems like it will truly be unique, incorporating core abilities and lore of the Rogue class.

Some of the new PvP sets are simply gorgeous--like the Paladin set with the asymmetrical helm. Others are a bit strange, like the skimpy Rogue top. Regardless, we've provided modelviewer previews of every datamined PvP recolor.

Comment by ByMoonlight

Comment by Nagousta

Can I request that someone on the PTR tries to mog their gear using the Gnomeregan Drape? I'd do it myself, but the Euro PTR queue is bugged.

Comment by Adamsm

on 2011-10-02T11:58:32-05:00

Can I request that someone on the PTR tries to mog their gear using the Gnomeregan Drape? I'd do it myself, but the Euro PTR queue is bugged.

White items can't be mog'ed at this point and time.

Comment by whoami86

on 2011-10-02T12:01:08-05:00

WTB DK Tier 13 preview please

Comment by pain799

on 2011-10-02T12:08:20-05:00

I'd estimate mid Nov, mid December at the latest.

Comment by Nagousta

on 2011-10-02T13:49:08-05:00

White items can't be mog'ed at this point and time.

Right, that's the point: white items can't be mogged, but can they be used to mog something? The rules don't rule that out. And Blizzard have said there are some exceptions - an item which was originally intended to be used for exactly this purpose would be a prime target for exception-ism.

Comment by Azazel

on 2011-10-02T13:58:40-05:00

White items can't be mog'ed at this point and time.

Right, that's the point: white items can't be mogged, but can they be used to mog something? The rules don't rule that out. And Blizzard have said there are some exceptions - an item which was originally intended to be used for exactly this purpose would be a prime target for exception-ism.

They can't be used to mog, and that's for both ways.

Comment by Adamsm

on 2011-10-02T14:02:21-05:00

White items can't be mog'ed at this point and time.

Right, that's the point: white items can't be mogged, but can they be used to mog something? The rules don't rule that out. And Blizzard have said there are some exceptions - an item which was originally intended to be used for exactly this purpose would be a prime target for exception-ism.

They can't be used to mog, and that's for both ways.

^ This; you can't use a White Item to mog, whether it's the recipient or the clone item.

Comment by Interest

Comment by Rankkor

on 2011-10-02T19:45:34-05:00

White items can't be mog'ed at this point and time.

Right, that's the point: white items can't be mogged, but can they be used to mog something? The rules don't rule that out. And Blizzard have said there are some exceptions - an item which was originally intended to be used for exactly this purpose would be a prime target for exception-ism.

They can't be used to mog, and that's for both ways.

^ This; you can't use a White Item to mog, whether it's the recipient or the clone item.

je je je je :P U're all forgetting that the NEW gnomeregan cloaks aren't white, they're blue :P like this one Cape of Gnomeregan

and THOSE can be used both as a recipient and as a source of transmogrification.

This aplies to every other new city cloaks in existence.

Also, U_U I kinda feel left out ATM. I'm a DK engineer. No info on DK tier 13 at all. No new recipes for engineers (yet)

Yes, I know, this is the first build, eventually they'll add the DK tier 13 (And it better be worth the wait, considering they've left it last for so long. They showed warrior tier 13 almost a month ago, here we are 3 weeks later and still nada on the DKs) but I'm concerned about engineering.

This profession has recieved squat on 4.1 AND 4.2 (other than a single gun usable only for 1 class). Its already bad enough that engineering is the ONLY profession with ZERO profits whatsoever, (Ammo wasn't even that profitable back in WOTLK, and now even that was removed too) but if we add to that, the fact that it has recieved the least love in this expansion........ yhea I'm not happy about how its been treated.

They better add A LOT of new stuff to us engineers of azeroth. Otherwise, I'm seriously considering to drop it for something more profitable AND usefull like alchemy. Currently, other than the glove/belt enchant, and a now sub-par helmet (that is now obsolete, and unlike all the other craftables was not upgraded in neither major patch so far) being an engineer poses no benefits at all.

Alchemy provides tangible bonuses for DPS, and also provides a profit.

Comment by Adamsm

on 2011-10-02T19:56:51-05:00

Yeah but he asked about the actual Gnomeragon Drape from the Retaking of Gnomer event, not the rep cape.

Comment by Rankkor

on 2011-10-02T20:02:06-05:00

Yeah but he asked about the actual Gnomeragon Drape from the Retaking of Gnomer event, not the rep cape.

well ya, but if the end result is the same, then what's the big deal? what matters is getting the appereance you want.

I know I'll be using the orgrimmar and stormwind cloaks for my horde and alliance toons. Best looking cloaks in the whole damn game. (Well, maybe the darnassus cloak for the druid :P)

Comment by Nagousta

on 2011-10-03T08:41:39-05:00

Thanks for the responses.

I'm still eager to test it anyway. They have said there will be exceptions. If it doesn't work now, I have faith that it will work in the future.